7PM-8PM Urban Insights: Learning about Cities from Data & Citizen Sensors
Moderator: Peter Hirshberg (GAFFTA/ReImagine Group)
Panel Guests: Sha Hwang (Trulia), Genevieve Hoffman (NYU Tisch), Michal Migurski (Stamen Design),Shannon Spanhake (City of San Francisco), Jeff Risom (Gehl Architects)
Collection and visualization of urban data have quickly become powerful tools for municipal governance. Citizens now have the capacity to act as sensors, data analysts, information designers, or all of the above to help cities better understand themselves. This panel will focus on the evolving role of open data and its applications to the public sector.

Guests

Peter Hirschberg (ReImagine Group)

Peter Hirshberg is at the epicenter of the noisy, connected world of online conversation. He is changing our thinking about marketing, branding and customer relationships. A Silicon Valley executive with several high profile marketing and branding related ventures, Peter has led emerging media and technology companies at the center of disruptive change for more than 20 years.

As chairman of The Re:imagine Group, Peter shapes strategies and marketing for a world of empowered and connected audiences and customers. He’s worked with executive teams at Best Buy, Hertz, Sony, Unilever, Thomson Reuters, IBM, Verizon, GE, Estee Lauder, Telefonica and many others on digital and growth strategies.

Genevieve Hoffman (NYU Tisch)

Genevieve Hoffman is an artist and designer whose work often illustrates the various dimensions that structure the way humans encounter their environments, whether temporal, physical, cultural or virtual. Her work has been featured in Fast Company Co-Create, the Huffington Post, and Good Magazine, and exhibited at galleries throughout the United States. She recently received a Master’s degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU, where she currently has a research residency for the 2012-2013 academic year. Genevieve lives and works in New York City.

Sha Hwang (Trulia)

Sha Hwang studied and worked in architecture at IwamotoScott and MESH Architectures before diving headfirst into data visualization at Stamen Design. At Stamen Sha worked on projects for clients like CNN, MTV, Adobe, and Flickr. Last year, Sha cofounded a startup called Movity focused on visualization and cities. Movity was recently acquired by the real estate company Trulia to bring their work to a national audience. Sha is endlessly fascinated by maps, data, design, and cities.

Michal Migurski (Stamen Design)

Stamen partner Michal Migurski has overseen the research and development of Stamen’s technology work since 2003, from running delivered code to prototypes and experiments to far-left-field disruption. He maintains an active weblog at mike.teczno.com, and likes to talk in front of groups.

Jeff Risom

As Head of Gehl Institute, Jeff Risom leads the Research and Development team at Gehl Architects.  Jeff holds an MSc in City Design and Social Science from the London School of Economics and a BS in Architectural Engineering from the University of Colorado, in the US. This educational background and international design experience that combines the arts and sciences, provides Jeff a unique insight into the technical as well as social aspects of urban design.  In his career, Jeff has worked with both public and private clients as well as non-governmental organizations in Europe, the USA, Latin America, India and China.  Jeff has helped transform Broadway, New York City providing the analytical and strategic foundation that helped the NYC Department of Transportation redesign Broadway with over 35,000m2 of new public space and dedicated bicycle tracks.  Jeff is currently leading urban design projects in San Francisco and Moscow in the City’s Museum Quarter. Jeff is also an active teacher and guest critic at Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Integrated Design Studio at University of Pennsylvania, the Cities Programme at London School of Economics as well as at the Royal Academy of Fine Art in Copenhagen.

Shannon Spanhake ( City of San Francisco)

Shannon Spanhake is the Deputy Innovation Officer for the Office of Mayor Edwin M. Lee and the City and County of San Francisco. Her focus is on using innovation to enable job creation, citizen engagement, and urban revitalization.